Benefits of Running an Online Business

In my article “Internet vs. Offline Business Ownership” I discuss some of the major advantages to opening an online business. Now let’s discuss some of the benefits those advantages provide.

1. More Time with Family and Friends

A 40 hour per week job takes up 24% of the hours you have in a week. Almost a quarter of a week! And that’s not including commute time, after hours meetings, and work taken home. Add in eight hours of sleep every night and you’re left with only 43% of the hours in a week. That’s less than half of your week to spend time with your friends and family (plus trying to squeeze in some time for yourself). If you happen to really love your job and love the people you work with, this might not be such a bad lifestyle. Speaking for myself, I would much rather spend that time with the people I love rather than coworkers.

Let me make a quick point here. Starting any type of business requires time and dedication, which means sacrificing time for yourself and others in order to get that business up and running. But, with determination, in time you will create a completely different type of lifestyle for yourself. Depending on what business model you choose, you can have flexible work hours and much more time for your loved ones.

2. Freedom to Do What You Want

One of the biggest reasons you may want to work for yourself is so you can make more money. There is always a chance for promotions in a normal job, but there will also always be a glass ceiling. You can only make as much as your company is willing to pay you.

With an online business, there is no limit to how much money you can make. As long as you’re determined and persistent, you can continue to earn more income. And with more income comes more freedom. This freedom allows you to choose when to take vacations, when to work during the day, how many hours you will work in a week, where you will conduct your business and much more. Most of all, this freedom gives you a greater quality of life!

3. Less Stress and Greater Quality of Life

How many headaches, migraines, bad moods, or just plain “case of the Monday’s” has your current job caused? It’s stressful commuting a couple hours each day to a job you’re not thrilled about, but terrified of being fired from. It’s hard working with people you don’t particularly like and being required to be “part of the team.” And even with a so-called “secure paycheck,” layoffs do happen. Companies are looking out for themselves and stockholders, as they should be. But who’s looking out for you and your family? Well, YOU ARE and that’s a lot of pressure.

Now imagine you wake up tomorrow and go out to the kitchen to get some coffee. You sit down and enjoy the newspaper as you slowly wake up. You pour yourself one more cup of coffee before you head into your home office. You turn your computer on and check your email. Hey, you got a few sales on your online store! Wow, you earned a big commission on one of your affiliate websites. You go through the rest of your email and make sure you respond to any customer questions and process all of your orders. Well, it’s about 10am now. Perhaps you’ll make some changes to your website, research a new product you’re interested in selling, or just take the rest of the day off. The choice is yours!

And that choice, ladies and gentlemen, is what helps to improve your quality of life! You aren’t being “forced” into doing anything. You’re not required to be somewhere, work with someone, handle some issue, etc, etc. You get to do what you think is best every day. Does this mean you never have to work again? Perhaps, if you become that successful. Otherwise, this means you finally get to enjoy your job. You’re the boss, and the boss knows best!

4. The Feeling of Empowerment

This is definitely one benefit I’m completely addicted to. It’s hard to put into words just how amazing it feels to create your own successful business; knowing your hard work and dedication not only paid off, it’s allowed you to pay off your mortgage, debt and other bills. You’ve paved your own road. You’ve determined how you spend your time. You’ve provided for your family without the help of some company’s paycheck. You are in control of your life. It’s a rush, let me tell you! The hard work is completely worth it.

5. Being Able to Work from Home

This benefit could be lumped in with some of the points above, but I wanted to give it more air time as this is one of my favorites! I have saved so much money on gas since I started working from home. I’m able to do my grocery shopping at noon (when hardly anyone else is at the store). I can get chores done around the house during the week days so my weekends are completely free. I can (and do sometimes) work in my pajamas all day! I can schedule doctor’s appointments during the day and I’m home to receive UPS packages. This list could go on and on, so let me sum it up by saying “I LOVE WORKING FROM HOME!” Talk about a happy work environment!

I could keep going with this list of benefits, but I will stop here for now. You really can experience these same benefits if you choose to. It will require effort to get there, but once you’ve got it, you’ll never let it go!

What are some of the benefits you’ve experienced while working for yourself? If you haven’t started your business yet, which benefits are you most excited about and why?

Topic Tags:

be your own boss, home based business, make money online, online business opportunities, work from home, work stress